There is a little confusion coming out of Montlake this evening with Michael Braunstein, Marlon Wood, Durrell Moss, William Kava, and Chris Hemphill being listed as Seniors with eligibility remaining for next year who are playing ther last game in Husky Stadium. Moss, and Kava are a couple of guys who were likely not to get a 5th year since they are buried in the depth, and likely wouldn't emerge from it next season. A total of 26 seniors will be honored on Saturday.
Braunstein is a guy that three coaches have tried to run off, but he has had a pretty solid year, in fact he has been one of the most consistent kickers in the Pac Ten this year. Washington received a verbal from a HS kicker Erik Folk from Sherman Oaks, California earlier today. UW is also in on a couple of punters.
Chris Hemphill is even more confusing since the Huskies don't have a lot of depth at Safety. CJ Wallace, and Matt Fountaine will exhaust their eligibility after this season. Hemphill is coming off a career game where he was credited with 14 tackles. For some reason his departure doesn't add up.
Marlon Wood has been a consistent big play threat, and he too has a year remaining after entering UW as Sophmore. Seems funny you would show the door to your only return threat.
Strangely enough Darren Harris a safety who is out with a serious back injury that could end his career is not listed. Kyle Trew looks like he escaped the chopping block too.
The information was posted at the GoHuskies website and I have a feeling that the info may not be accurate because Wood, and Hemphill are to guys I would welcome back. I won't comment on Braunstein.
Anyway I have been holding off on this all day, but now that it has been posted on the official site there are still a lot of questions to be answered. The key to the future of course are the kids we are going to recruit the next two years, and room has to be made for the program to improve. however getting rid of a couple seniors who are capable of starting next year is quite odd if it is true.
Whatever the story is we should have a good idea what is going on later this evening, or in the morning.
Update
According to Bob Condotta over at the Seattle Times there are no mistakes, or typo's, Braunstein, and Hemphill currently are not going to be invited back for a 5th year. Both have an interest in finishing their football careers next Fall and under new NCAA rules are eligible to transfer wherever they want to finish, even in conference. Wouldn't that be strange indeed to watch Braunstein kick a winning field goal against Washington while playing for Arizona, or Chris Hemphill come up with 14 tackles for the Duck's against Washington next year?
According to Willingham the door is open a crack for them to return, but it is very doubtful at this point, so they are walking with the Seniors since they will be able to earn their degree's this year. I think Willingham is going to get a lot of media criticism for the way he is handling this even though he needs to make room for his next two classes.
When a new regime takes over there is always a lot of attrition, and a lot of it is forced. Take Joey Thomas who is now in the NFL. He was an original Neuheisel recruit who was chased off by Neuhesiel because they didn't think he was good enough. Joey went over to Montana and became an All American, and a high NFL draft choice. Just another case of what a lousy evaluator Rick was. In comparison asking a kid to move on after his 4th year is tame in comparison.
None of us are inside the team, not even the media, so nobody really understands the inner workings of this team, and who contributes in a positive way that helps the team. Hemphill is a kid with seemingly enormous physical talents, and it has surprised me how little he has played this year. He got a chance last week and came up with 14 tackles. This week he is on the short list of players asked not to return. Perhaps they are just motivating Hemphill in a way that worked so well with Scott White in the pre season. I guess we will find out what happens to Chris over the Winter. As for Braunstein he is 100% gone. I liked his performance this year, and it would usually merit a 5th year, but he isn't exactly the most popular kid on the squad.
Attitude seems to be the common denominator that Willingham is looking for. We all realize that changing a culture is not easy, and that certain people always have to go to achieve it.
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2 comments:
This kind of makes me wonder about the master plan and how long Coach W expects to have to implement it. Those that remain will have the qualities he desires in player, but will there be enough of them?
Alot of people are anticipating this affecting recruiting in a negative way and I'm sure there are those that will attempt to use it as such, but if a kid wants playing time, ours will be nearly the perfection situation.
Don't worry about numbers Hair, worry about quality. He is going to bring in 50 or more kids over the next two years, so don't worry about th enumbers, they are going to be there.
As far as it effecting recruiting, it shouldn't. Steve Spurrier ran off 13 underclassmen form South Carolina the first day on the job. He took a lot of criticism, but nobody is complaining now.
All Ty is doing is trimming the deadwood in the most ethical way possible, that is giving an early exit to kids who are on track t graduate in the Spring.
Every single coach in the Pac Ten has no problem running off an underperforming underclassman, Ty doesn't do that here unless there is a serious breech of team rules, university conduct, or civil laws.
Very few coaches compare to Ty nationally, and in the conference for the way they treat the players in their program.
Earning the 5th year? What is new about that, every coach has been doing that for a long time. Ty actually lets kids know up front that there is no guarantee rather than jerking them around. To me that is upfront and honest.
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